Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Lure
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"But I refuse."
"What...? But I haven't even told you what the request is yet."
"Still, I refuse."
A nominated request, huh.
I've explained this before, but I'll go over it again.
"I absolutely need this person! It has to be them!"
"I want to screw this bastard over, no matter what! I want to see you squirm by nominating you for a request that's impossible to solve through normal means!"
That's the kind of request it is.
I haven't heard who nominated me yet, but honestly, how many people do I even know in this world?
If I had to count, there's no one besides Adela and Isaac, whose request I took on a while back.
So, did Isaac nominate me?
It hasn't been that long since I solved his request. Could another incident have happened already?
If incidents happen that frequently in a domain, it'd be better to just blow it up and abandon it.
Then that leaves the latter case.
Someone must have made a nominated request just to screw me over.
I don't know who it is.
But they must know me to have nominated me.
I don't know what kind of asshole they are, but do they really think I'll just meekly agree?
In the first place, nominated requests come with the right to refuse, so there's no problem if I say no.
"Um... Sir Luke? Wouldn't you at least like to hear it...?"
"Oh, Yui. This is why you're hopeless. If it were you, would you just walk right into an obvious trap someone set to mess with you?"
What kind of person do you think requested this?
It's obvious they think they're in a position of power and I'm just a subordinate, and they're trying to leverage that.
I get the most pleasure out of telling "no" to people who think they're in charge.
The look on their faces when they get flustered, those people who think they're all that.
Really, just imagining it makes the corners of my mouth turn up.
"Anyway, I'm not doing the nominated request. I'm taking the day off because I can't be bothered."
I told Adela my decision.
I just got back from finishing a request.
There's no way I'd start working again right after getting back.
I didn't sleep well yesterday, so today I plan to sleep in and then laze around in bed.
I might have called Yui a shut-in loser earlier, but I'm not much different myself.
Besides, the reward I got today is enough to live on for a week without working.
"Is that so... That's a shame. Nominated requests don't come in very often."
"Call it what it is: a landmine."
"Still, the fact that you received a nominated request means your reputation has grown, doesn't it?"
Even celebrities have anti-fans. A high profile isn't always a good thing.
"Anyway, we're going to get some rest now."
"Understood. I'll reject the nominated request."
After that, we had a simple breakfast and headed straight for the inn to recover from our lingering fatigue.
***
I spent the entire day of my return relaxing, and the next day, I headed to the Adventurer's Guild to see if anything was up.
I ranked up thanks to the King Slime, so I figured I might be able to reach B-rank with just a few more requests.
"Welcome."
My day started with Adela's greeting, just like any other.
"Ah, that's right, Sir Luke. About that nominated request that came in the other day."
"I already said I'm not doing it."
"Yes. I rejected it, but they submitted the request again with a higher reward."
"?"
Am I the only adventurer in the world?
If they need a C-rank adventurer, they could just hire anyone. Why are they so obsessed?
Could it be some noble lady who heard tales of my heroism and begged her father to put in a request?
"Will you be refusing it again this time?"
"Naturally."
Who in their right mind would willingly walk into a landmine?
"Understood. I will reject it again."
At first, I thought they'd give up on their own if I just kept refusing.
But this bastard didn't know when to quit.
The next day, too.
"Sir Luke. The nominated request came in again today."
"Not interested."
And the day after that.
"...Um, Sir Luke. Today, again..."
"Not buying."
And the day after that.
"Luke—"
"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
They were so persistent it made me wonder, *what the hell is wrong with this person?*
The reward money went up every single day.
The reward, which started at 50 silver, had now surpassed 1 gold.
And the next day.
*Flutter.*
When I showed up at the Adventurer's Guild in the morning, Adela simply handed me a request form.
No words needed, I guess.
"Hey, Adela. Is that person mentally ill or something?"
"I, I don't think so...?"
Adela rarely shows that she's flustered except around me, so the fact that even she was flustered proved just how obsessive this was.
"It's strange... The client is clearly a noble..."
"If they're a noble, doesn't that make it more likely they're mentally ill?"
All the nobles I've met are weird.
Someone as wholesome, intelligent, and cultured as me must be rare among the nobility.
"Do nobles these days live locked in a room, reading nothing but newspapers?"
What are they, some kind of military signalman?
It's not like I'm the only adventurer in the world. Why are they being so annoying?
"S-Still, at this point, don't you think you should at least see what the request is about?"
"Adela. Be honest with me. This is annoying you, isn't it?"
"...N-No?"
If you're going to say no, you shouldn't flinch like that.
It must be a huge pain to fill out the rejection paperwork and send it back every day.
Honestly, this is probably more irritating for Adela than it is for me.
All I have to do is say no, but Adela has to process the documents and mail back the rejected request form.
And then every morning, the same rejected request form is waiting for her again.
"Adela. Should I go kill them for you?"
"Please don't do that..."
I said they were just trying to mess with me, but at this point, I'd say their intention to mess with me has already half-succeeded.
'If they'd spent this time on self-improvement, they could have solved it themselves.'
This is why I always say the people of this world are idiots.
"Fine, I'll at least hear it out."
"Yes! Thank you!"
She said it wasn't annoying her, but she looks so happy.
It must have been annoying her after all.
"The client is Crown Rhodian, head of a marquis house. The request is to subjugate the increasing number of monsters near the marquis's domain."
"What kind of monsters?"
"The details aren't specified... Other than nominating you, Sir Luke, the only other thing written on the request form is the reward of 2 gold."
It definitely started at 50 silver.
Somehow, it had shot up fourfold to 2 gold.
Maybe I should have been an investor.
Not playing the stock market or crypto in my past life is my one great regret.
"Luna, what do you think?"
"It is a bit strange. The request details are vague, and they're abnormally fixated on you, Luke."
"Yui, you?"
"I think it's great! Even if it's a trap, I don't think you'd fall for it, Sir Luke. And with 2 gold, we could live for over a month without doing anything!"
Spoken like a true former hikikomori.
Her mindset is just 'it'll work out somehow'.
But I think so, too.
"Well, let's give it a shot."
***
Somewhere, underground.
A dark, spacious room was strangely empty.
The only thing inside was an unusually large, round table.
A large candle stood in the center of the table, barely illuminating its immediate surroundings.
Around the table sat figures in hooded robes.
"Borg is dead."
A heavy, low voice spread throughout the room.
It was so heavy it felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped slightly.
"Kikik. You mean that worthless bastard? The one who picked a fight he couldn't win, got his ass kicked, and ran away with his tail between his legs?"
This time, the voice was the complete opposite.
It was a man's voice, yet it resembled that of someone touched by madness.
"That bastard deserved to die from the start. How could someone so weak ever hope to fight anywhere?"
"Watch your tongue. Borg may have been weak among us, but he was still a demon. No matter how injured he was, he wasn't someone who would fall to some pathetic riffraff."
Demons are a catastrophe.
Normal people are helpless against them. For even the weakest demon to die without even being able to escape is absurd.
So thought the man, who did not know the full story.
"Come to think of it, Kurga is missing too, isn't he?"
An empty seat.
Already, two seats at the round table were empty.
One belonged to the exiled Borg.
And the other, to Kurga, who recently received a mission to assassinate someone at the academy.
"Kurga also died during his recent mission."
"Pfft. They say weaklings flock together. I had a feeling he'd die soon enough."
"In any case, it is certain that our forces have been diminished."
Weak or not, two demons have already been taken down.
This is not something to be taken lightly.
"Forces? The two of them combined were weaker than me. What forces? They got cocky, relying only on their abilities, and that's why they died so young."
"Recently, even the vampires who were preparing to invade the domain were killed."
The vampires he had prepared in advance.
They were a tool meant to diminish the Empire's strength, even if just slightly, by invading a domain far from the capital.
But they died.
"Heeh... Even the vampires were taken out? How did those bat bastards, so good at hiding, get caught?"
This voice belonged to a woman, so sweet that one could guess her appearance just by hearing it.
"I investigated personally. It was all the work of a single party."
"Did an A-rank adventurer party make a move?"
"No, I've already finished the investigation on that matter."
"Fast as always."
"Enter."
*-Click.*
As the man spoke, the room's only door opened, and a person entered.
Unlike the other demons, this person was not wearing a hooded robe.
"How did it go?"
"W-Well... I've tried to lure him several times already, but I've been rejected every single time..."
"That's for you to figure out. If you fail, you will be the first to die."
"Y-Yes, sir! I will be sure to lure him in!"
The man waved his arm dismissively, and the person who had entered closed the door and left.
"So? What's the plan?"
"We will lure him to the domain of the one who just entered. You will go and take care of it, Lilith."
"Is it finally my turn? I was about to die of boredom waiting~"
"Don't get careless. Make sure you finish the job."
"Yes, yes~ I understand~"
That was the end of the conversation.
The robed demons surrounding the table vanished, enveloped in black mist.